Educational appliance.



Patented Mar. n3, |900.

- M.THRUSTON.

EDUCATIONAL APPLIANCE.

l (Appliecion med me. 16, 1599.) (N o M o d el gemeten mus ventas co. Fumo-urna., wummou. uA c m: nu

NITED STATES PATENT Trios.,

MYNNA THRUSTON, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

EDUCATIONAL APPLIANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,440, dated March 13, 1900. Application filed December 16,1899. .Serial ll'o= 740,593. (No model.)

To LZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that LMYNNA THRUsToN,a citizen of the United States, residing at Dayton,in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Educational Appliances; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the art of teaching sewing and needle-Work generally by the use of worked-out diagrams or illustrations which indicate the steps to be taken in regular order to produce a certain given result in sewing.

The invention consists in certain novel constructions and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter described and specifically claimed.

The object of my invention is to successfully and readily instruct girls and young ladies in school, as well as others, in the art of needle-work generally, beginning with the very simplest instructions and gradually working up to the highest class of such Work, and in carrying out this object I employ a number of lesson-sheets-say fourteen-each sheet being given to a diderent subject and arranged according to the simplicity or complexity of the work and in the natural order of progression. For instance, the first lesson Awould teach stitching; lesson number two,

backstitching; lesson number three, overcasting; lesson number four, hemming; lesson number eight, buttonhole-making; lesson number ten, stocking-darning, and so on down to and including napkin-embroidering, dac.

In the accompanying drawings I illustrate two of the lesson-sheets, in which- Figure l is a plan view of a lesson-sheet, illustrating the progressive steps in making buttonholes; and Fig. 2 illustrates a lessonsheet, showing the ,progressive steps in stocking-darning.

l in the drawings represents a card of suitable dimensions upon Which instructions may be printed and also the number of the lesson and the title of the card.

In Fig. l of the drawings an illustration of the progressive steps for producing a buttonhole is given, and to accomplish this a piece of material, as 2, is pinned or sewed to the cardboard l,said piece of material having been previously prepared in the manner shown in the drawings and as will now be described. First an incision or cut of the proper length for a buttonhole is made, as at 3, andthe two edges are then overcast, as shown at 4t, 4to keep them in place. Then two long threads vare arranged along each side of the buttonhole from corner to corner, as illustrated at 5. These threads secure to the buttonhole a strong edge when finished. The next step is to put the needle into the material just below these threads and let it stay there until you have taken hold of the two threads near the eye of the needle and thrown them over the needle toward the left, whereupon you draw out the needle vand give the threada firm pull. This is continued until the stitches are placed close together on each side of the buttonhole and also at the corners of the same, as illustrated in said Fig. 1. By following these instructions, which would accompany the lessonsheet in printed form or which could be easily given by a person familiar with the art of sewing, with the lesson-sheet before her, the work could be readily and with a little practice accurately performed. The placing before the pupil of the worked-out progressive steps of producing needle-work by actual examples in the manner that I have described renders very simple what has been heretofore quite difficult to teach.

In Fig. 2 of the drawingsIhave illustrated the progressive steps employed in stockingdarning. To enable a scholar to perfect this branch of needle-work, I attacha piece of material, as 7, to a piece of cardboard by means of pins or in any other -suitable manner, in which piece of material the worked-out progressive steps followed in darning are dem# onstrated as follows: A hole, as S, is cut in the piece of material, which represents a hole in a stocking, and the scholar or learner is instructed to hold the piece of material where the hole is iirmly over a darner and to take two small stitches in the material at the edges of the hole and then lay or make a long stitch over the hole, holding it in place by two small stitches in the material on the opposite side of the hole, as shown at 19. These long stitches are continued until the hole is covered. The scholar next begins on the oppo- IOO site side of the hole, at right angles to the first-formed long stitches, and takes up every other stitch with her needle, two short stitch es being made in the material alongside the hole before each long stitch is made, and then two short stitches are made in the material on the opposite side of the hole at the completion of each long stitch, so as to hold the threads in place. This is continued until the entire hole is covered by` the interlapping threads, as shown at 10 in Fig. 2. At 1l I have indicated by the representation of a piece of thread where another hole is to be cut out by the scholar or beginner and the hole darned in the manner above described. By following out these instructions a beginner will quickly and thoroughly acquire the knowledgenecessary for performing this class of work and by a little practice can become very proficient in the same. I have only given two illustrations of lesson-cards used in connection with ,my method of teaching; but, as heretofore stated, it is obvious that the same method may be employed for teaching the different classes and grades ot' needlework.

In practice the lesson-sheets, preferably fourteen in number, are packed in a box with the material for carrying out the different lessons. The sheets are all arranged and numbered with respect to each other so that the simplest lessons will be given first and the more difficult lessons, embodying instructions brought out in previously-studied lessons, will follow in regular order. The lessons are so clearly arranged that no time need be lost in the class-room, and a teacher with only a moderate knowledge of needle-work can take charge of a class of beginners. The

system where introduced has met with high commendation and has been found to be of great utility.

My invention differs materiallyfrom merely printed diagrams and illustrations found in books of instruction on needle-work in that each step is not simply printed as in such books; but each progressive step is actually worked out as it would appear in practice, which is distinctively novel and of great utility, as it shows at once to a learner'how the different steps in the work should appear and be actually and practically performed and removes the idea of mere theory from the instructions. It is obvious that much better results can be obtained with my system, and by actual test has been obtained, than merely employing printed diagrams and illustrations to teach the art of needle-work, especially as the lessons become more difficult and the more intricate kinds of work taken up.

I do not claim as new methods of sewing as illustrated; but

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-' An educational device, comprising a card .provided with suitable instructions for needie-work, said card having mounted thereon a piece of material with a series of steps worked out in said material illustrating the various steps in the needle-work comprised in the instructions on the card, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

MYNNA TI-IRUSTON.

Vitnesses:

ALBERT KERN, W. H. MILLER. 

